This application relates to wood planing, and specifically to a cutter head assembly for a knife planer.
Wood planing machinery such as knife planers are used to finish wood. In some applications, lumber boards are subjected to cutter head finishing operations on each of their four sides in a knife planer to achieve a smooth finish.
Cutter heads have multiple, spaced apart, projecting blades and are rotated at high speed in contact with a wood workpiece to finish it. Over time, the cutter head blades become dull and require resharpening (called “pointing”). As blades wear, they can be adjusted to project from a body of the cutter head by a desired distance. Ultimately, blades wear to an extent where they can no longer be used and must be replaced by new blades.
A component called a gib, which is used in connection with one or more gib screws, is used to secure each blade in its respective slot. The gib and gib screw arrangement allows the blade to be installed and removed, as well as to be adjusted. Because each current gib and gib screw arrangements require substantial angular space around the cutter head body, the number of blades per cutter head of a given diameter is limited.